C+Directed by Tony Scott Starring Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards, and Val Kilmer Review by Jon Kissel |  |
Half military recruitment ad and half confirmation of everything the Village People implied about the Navy, Top Gun is somehow more than its reputation. Quentin Tarantino wrote himself a long diatribe about the film’s homoeroticism, but it’s so much more aggressive than one mere the volleyball scene. It’s known as one of the first coproductions with the Department of Defense, but the militarism is apparent on every frame. The culture has undersold the most notable aspects of Tony Scott’s breakout film. Top Gun is shocking in its shamelessness, a perfect vehicle for a mid-80’s America that needed the smallest of shoves to fall back in love with the military and all its wet-butted studs.
After a brief homage to the fighting men and women of the Navy, Top Gun introduces the 80’s archetype of the renegade who flouts the rules but gets stuff done. Tom Cruise transitioned to action roles with his Maverick, a brash and arrogant legacy fighter pilot who recklessly rides his 8-figure horse into battle. Maverick’s too good to punish, so he and radar intercept officer Goose (Anthony Edwards) are sent to top gun school in Miramar, California, a place where the rough edges might be polished off. The film transitions into a sports movie here, with Maverick and Goose vying for best in show amongst the various other strutting peacocks in competition, peacocks like Val Kilmer’s Iceman. Surgical where Maverick is improvisatory, Iceman is the Jeannie Bueller of the film such that they’re both the unfairly maligned pseudo-villain to their counterparts’ unearned and irritating blunt-force charisma. Distinct approaches to flying clash at high speeds, but I bet there’s a compromise.
Simply put, Top Gun has a staggering level of horniness coming off the screen. Not so much the horniness between Maverick and perfunctory love interest and Miramar lecturer Charlotte (Kelly McGillis), a major misstep that makes a complete fool out of Charlotte in risking her career for Cruise’s entitled douchiness. Instead, Scott’s camera gazes at all the male bodies onscreen, repeatedly and longingly. This is a sweaty film, even indoors. Cruise and Kilmer are often nose-to-nose, and seem one or two lines away from jumping on top of each other. The famous volleyball scene has flexing and poses, and, hilariously, no wide shots of Cruise spiking the ball over the net. There is a scene transition from the film’s famous tragedy to Cruise bent over a bathroom sink in grief, his briefs-clad butt 50% damp and 30% of the screen. Why isn’t this a midnight movie with a constant refrain of ‘kiss him!’ It’s impossible to tell if Scott and his cast is in on the joke, but the larger question is how could they not be when it’s all so obvious?
Can Top Gun be taken as a subversive film for the testosterone-laden set if the Navy set up recruitment stations outside of screenings? What is subversive about it, in that the renegade character eventually falls into line, loses its power because he’s falling into line with the most powerful military on the planet. The final theme is trust the military, as they know what they’re doing. Whatever this film’s considerable and puzzling failings, it is not boring. A film that lingers is doing something right. C+
Simply put, Top Gun has a staggering level of horniness coming off the screen. Not so much the horniness between Maverick and perfunctory love interest and Miramar lecturer Charlotte (Kelly McGillis), a major misstep that makes a complete fool out of Charlotte in risking her career for Cruise’s entitled douchiness. Instead, Scott’s camera gazes at all the male bodies onscreen, repeatedly and longingly. This is a sweaty film, even indoors. Cruise and Kilmer are often nose-to-nose, and seem one or two lines away from jumping on top of each other. The famous volleyball scene has flexing and poses, and, hilariously, no wide shots of Cruise spiking the ball over the net. There is a scene transition from the film’s famous tragedy to Cruise bent over a bathroom sink in grief, his briefs-clad butt 50% damp and 30% of the screen. Why isn’t this a midnight movie with a constant refrain of ‘kiss him!’ It’s impossible to tell if Scott and his cast is in on the joke, but the larger question is how could they not be when it’s all so obvious?
Can Top Gun be taken as a subversive film for the testosterone-laden set if the Navy set up recruitment stations outside of screenings? What is subversive about it, in that the renegade character eventually falls into line, loses its power because he’s falling into line with the most powerful military on the planet. The final theme is trust the military, as they know what they’re doing. Whatever this film’s considerable and puzzling failings, it is not boring. A film that lingers is doing something right. C+
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